By Shannon Matter
Special to The Observer
Kassia Kitamura was chosen as the taker of the Athlete’s Oath at the opening ceremonies of the Lhtako Quesnel BC Winter Games. In addition to that spotlight, she was also competing in artistic gymnastics right at her own Correlieu Secondary School. It’s a dream she has visualized long before the Games began, but more than just idle athletic fantasy. Visualization is part of her athlete’s journey.
When asked how she prepared for the BC Winter Games, she said, “imagining myself doing the gymnastics moves.”
For the past century, possibly even millennia, athletes have been using the power of the mind and visualization as one of the important aspects of practising a sport.
She specified she was imagining “back flips, front flips, imagining the connections between the moves on each apparatus.” The connections between the moves, flowing from one move to the next, is one of the things that gives sports like gymnastics its beauty.
Kassia competes on vault, bars, beam and floor. Beam and floor are events just over one minute long.
Her father, Craig Kitamura, added that to prepare for the Lhtako Quesnel BC Winter Games, the Zone team gathered in Prince George. Kids from all over Zone 8 (Cariboo Northeast) trained there together as well as the regular training they do in their local communities .
Kassia has been doing gymnastics since age two. She has been competing since age six. Her mother, Carrie Paholka, added that she wanted to keep her kids active, so she had them involved in sports at a young age.
Regarding their preparation regimen Kassia said, “We train hard. We spend a lot of hours training, four and a half hours per day, three days per week.”
On top of that, she was chosen by Games organizers to say the Athlete’s Oath at the opening ceremonies in front of a capacity crowd at West Fraser Centre.
“I was very excited to do the Oath,” she said. “Out of all the athletes competing in the Games from Quesnel, it is an honour to be chosen. I got to rehearse the speech, so I felt a lot better about presenting it in front of people after the rehearsal.”
The competition provided a whole other set of experiences.
“I learned that not every day is your best day,” she said. “I felt a lot of pressure. I’ve been competing for many years and have been in many competitions, but I felt extra pressure this weekend because Lhtako Quesnel is hosting the event.”
She believed the hometown experiences would be helpful in future events.
“I do think that this will empower me in future competitions because I gained confidence and strength within myself,” she said. “This was my first year competing in CCP 7 (Canadian Competitive Program Level 7), and all the mental and physical preparation was helpful. There was a lot to take in at the games.”
Kassia’s favourite section of artistic gymnastics is the floor routine.
“For floor, you need to have strength, skill, grace, rhythm and a whole lot of fun,” she said. “There are certain requirements you have to perform to get a full start value (for example leaps, turns and tumble lines). I like floor the best because you can put all of your heart and power into it to express yourself. There are many things I need to work on, but I love the challenge.”
The lifelong focus on the collection of gymnastics events isn’t just a pursuit of awards. Kitamura said she gets many life skills from her sport.
“Gymnastics has helped to increase my strength, balance, flexibility, focus and coordination,” she said. “It has taught me about how important it is to set goals and think positively. Gymnastics is good for the brain and body and this also helps me in other sports. I had so much fun at the Winter Games and I wish I could do it all over again.”
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